New Social Network Helps Travelers Get Friendly

Traveling, especially during the holidays, is usually a stressful affair. Not only do you have to worry about the TSA violating your Constitutional rights at the security checkpoint, there are also the faceless crowds of people to elbow through and avoid eye contact with.

Although social networking sites are usually accused of killing our ability to connect and empathize with one another, a new website hopes to be instrumental in resurrecting the art of small talk.

Bumped.in offers travelers the chance to find out who is traveling with them, discover common interests, and make connections by digitally reaching out to the people around them to start in-person conversations.

“I wanted to create the site to allow people to tap into the massive resource pool of commuters traveling in close proximity to one another,” said Bumped.in founder and frequent commuter Kiran Patel. “Maybe you see someone you’d like to go on a date with on the train. Maybe the guy sitting next to you on your flight is looking for a data analyst and you’re a data analyst looking for a job. It could also be as simple as passing helpful travel tips on to the next passenger. The possibilities are really endless.”

Additionally, the free service offers real-time travel information, so that passengers and commuters can receive the latest status updates and transit alerts on everything from delays to travel tips.

Bumped.in is compatible with all major airlines, and many major rail routes, including New York’s MTA, NJ Transit, Chicago’s CTA, San Francisco’s BART and AMTRAK. The service also offers users the options of integrating their Bumped.in profiles with their existing social networking profiles.

A Bumped.in iPhone app is in development and scheduled to launch within the next two months.